Soundwave Festival occurred annually until 2015. A 2016 iteration of the festival was planned, but its cancellation was announced on 17 December 2015 by founder AJ Maddah due to poor ticket sales.[3]
The Soundwave festival originated in Perth,[4] as a smaller festival known as Gravity Soundwave within the Gravity Games.[5] The Gravity Games were held in South Perth along the Swan River, being based mainly on water-based and action sports. The event was sponsored by Vodafone in its first year, with the company reportedly committing one million dollars to the event. Gravity Soundwave provided the music side of the festival, which took place at McCallum Park alongside the Swan River.[6]
Gravity Soundwave was first introduced in the festival's first year, which was held on 14 and 15 October 2004. American pop punk band Good Charlotte effectively became the first headline act of Soundwave, when they performed in the festival's first night along with Gyroscope and One Dollar Short.[6] The following night featured Unwritten Law, Regurgitator, MxPx, Lagwagon and Last Year's Hero.[6]
The 2005 festival was again presented by Vodafone, being held on the night of 8 October. Gravity Soundwave was headlined by Grinspoon, with it also featuring American acts Unwritten Law, Reel Big Fish, and Goldfinger.[5]
In 2007 the festival expanded to include Sydney and Brisbane, and increased the number of bands performing. A number of the artists featured in the 2007 Festival had previously played at the Soundwave Festival in Perth, including Unwritten Law, MxPx and Parkway Drive.
The 2008 Soundwave festival was headlined by The Offspring, along with Incubus and Killswitch Engage and was expanded to include dates in Melbourne and Adelaide, increasing the number of dates from three to five. The expanded Festival featured five stages compared to three the previous year.
*A^ The Dillinger Escape Plan replaced Scars on Broadway *B^ Less Than Jake did not appear in Brisbane due to flight delays. *C^ Acts were made public in a third announcement and only appeared in Sydney.
This was the first time Limp Bizkit had toured Australia in eleven years. Their previous tour was the 2001 Big Day Out festival, which was marred by the death of 16-year-old Jessica Michalik during their performance at the Sydney show. Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst paid tribute to Michalik at each Soundwave date and openly criticised Big Day Out organisers.[21]
The festival also featured a reunited Coal Chamber, who played their first shows since 2003,[22] and also marked the final shows of emo group Thursday.[23]
This festival featured 95 acts across eleven stages.
This edition of Soundwave was noted for its "drummers' curse",[29] where several bands lost members in the week leading up to the festival:
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was to attempt the long-haul flight and participate in Blink-182's first Australian tour since 2004, saying "[I'm] getting knocked out and getting on a plane to Australia".[30] Barker survived a plane crash in 2008 and suffers from aerophobia. However, after months of counselling and medication, Barker could not overcome his fear of flying and was replaced on the tour by Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion.[31]
Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo announced on Facebook that he was fired due to a dispute over money,[33] he was also replaced by Jon Dette, who was already filling in for Anthrax and has previously played in Slayer[32]
In addition, Shai Hulud vocalist Justin Kraus was hospitalised with chest pain immediately after playing a show in Trenton, New Jersey,[35] he was replaced by Mike Moynihan, who was previously their vocalist between 2009 and 2011[34]
Gallows guitarist Stephen Carter left the band in the days leading up to the festival, the band continued as a four-piece.[36]
There was also controversy regarding bands such as Pierce the Veil and The Amity Affliction having their sets cut short in Perth due to complaints from local residents – after this Maddah doubted the festival's future in Western Australia.
This festival featured 72 acts across nine stages (eight stages in Perth).
*A^Garbage did not perform in Sydney due to logistical issues[37][38] *B^Flogging Molly did not appear in Perth[39] *C^Mindless Self Indulgence did not perform in Melbourne due to logistical issues[40] *D^Six Feet Under were forced to withdraw from the lineup after drummer Kevin Talley was injured in an accident[34] *E^Blood On The Dance Floor withdrew from the lineup due to financial issues[41] *F^Dr. Acula broke up in October 2012 and were subsequently removed from the lineup[42] *G^Living With Lions and Mark Tremonti were added to the lineup on 30 October 2012,[43] but Tremonti pulled out the next day due to clashing tour commitments.[44] *H^Puscifer only played in Sydney and Adelaide, they were originally listed as "Special Guests".[45] *I^Malakyte only played in Brisbane, they were originally listed as "Special Guests"[46] *J^ The winners of the Triple J Unearthed competition for Perth, In League, were not able to perform due to time constraints alongside Soundwave's conflict with the Claremont Council[47][48]
The lineup for the 2014 festival was first announced on 23 August 2013. The lineup containing 94 bands, featured Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn and Alice in Chains[49]
The Perth festival was relocated from Claremont ShowgroundtoArena Joondalup, 25 km north of Perth, two weeks before the beginning of the festival due to Soundwave's ongoing conflict with the Claremont Council.[50] Following a similar situation at the Perth leg of Big Day Out in January of that year, which was also relocated from Claremont Showground to Arena Joondalup, AJ Maddah confirmed that 2014 would be the last Soundwave held in Perth,[51] where the festival originated.
*A^The Living End replaced Stone Temple Pilots, who withdrew from the lineup due to scheduling conflicts.[52] *B^Megadeth withdrew from the lineup due to unspecified reasons[53] *C^Newsted withdrew from the lineup due to unspecified reasons.[54] *D^Filter replaced Sevendust, who withdrew from the lineup due to a financial dispute with Soundwave promoters.[55] *E^Desaparecidos withdrew from the lineup for personal reasons.[56] *F^Dir En Grey did not appear in Perth.[57] *G^Volbeat withdrew from the Adelaide and Perth shows due to a family emergency.[58] *H^Whitechapel withdrew from the lineup due to the death of an immediate family member.[59] *I^Hardcore Superstar withdrew from the lineup due to a scheduling dispute with Soundwave promoters.[54]
On 28 June 2014, Soundwave announced that it will become a two-day festival,[60] held over two consecutive weekends, with half the bands announced playing day one and the other half playing day two, criss-crossing between Adelaide and Melbourne, then Sydney and Brisbane. AJ Maddah stated on Twitter "Putting the line-up across [two] days enables us to minimise clashes; give bands longer sets, better staging, production [and] infrastructure. I am also hoping that this will give fans better value for money and a less stressful day."[60] AJ Maddah later confirmed that 2015 was the last Soundwave for Adelaide in the foreseeable future as it made a $300,000 loss in 2014, but with the $1,400,000 loss in 2015 due to lackluster ticket sales being too large to subsidise out of the other cities.[61]
*A^Rival Sons withdrew from the lineup for personal reasons.[62] *B^The Treatment did not appear in Adelaide.[63] *C^Evergreen Terrace withdrew from the lineup due to drummer Brad Moxey suffering serious injuries in an accident.[64]
On 20 March 2015, AJ Maddah stated that Soundwave 2016 would return to the one-day format and would be held in January instead of the usual late February/early March dates. He also later stated that the 2016 lineup would be announced via "drip-feeding" and would also be smaller in order to achieve longer set times for bands.
Bullet for My Valentine was announced as the first act of Soundwave 2016 via the band's social media accounts and the official Soundwave website on 14 August 2015, and over the next four months, Disturbed was announced as the headliner and 24 other bands were added for a total of 26 bands.
On 15 December 2015, Maddah tweeted that 2016 would be the final ever Soundwave, stating it was due to "stress and haters", and two days later he tweeted that the festival had been officially cancelled.[66]
Various problems contributed to its cancellation, including:
Poor ticket sales (Maddah once stated that 2016 would "sell out instantly", but around 20,000 tickets in total had been sold at the time of its cancellation)[67]
L7 withdrawing from the lineup for unspecified reasons
Bring Me the Horizon claiming that they weren't officially locked in for the festival despite being announced months beforehand
The festival's venues reportedly not being booked
Reports surfacing that Maddah owes over $11 million to all the bands who played the 2015 festival
